Bound Volumes

September 22, 2022

210 YEARS AGO
Casualty – Another accident has happened from carelessness about firearms. A Mr. Webster, belonging, as we understand, to a new Artillery Company, lately raised in Cincinnatus and its vicinity, being ordered by the commanding officer to drive home the cartridge, which had just been attempted to be fired without effect, had one hand blown off, the other so dreadfully injured as to render amputation necessary, and the flesh on his side burnt and torn to the very ribs. The unfortunate man was in the very act of ramming the piece when it went off. It is not expected that the unfortunate man will live.

September 26, 1812

110 YEARS AGO
Living next door in Utica to James S. Sherman, vice-president of the United States, resides Dr. Ira S. Sweet, the practical bone-setter, and a man who would rather shift a knee joint back into place than to carry a bag of gold into a bank. Sweet is a born bone-setter. Licensed physicians may sniff their noses at this, but Sweet’s father, grandfather and great grandfather set bones before him. Sweet is counted a great man in Central New York. Every man, woman and child in fifteen counties knows him or has heard of him. He has been setting bones for nearly 50 years. He has treated more than 30,000 cases of fractured or deformed bones and has never lost a case. For more than 30 years, licensed physicians have been trying to put an end to Sweet’s practicing. They have caused his arrest, but no jury has been found, nor is it probable one can be found that will convict him in any court.

September 25, 1912

85 YEARS AGO
Ziyara Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, a Masonic body, has its headquarters at Utica, but draws its membership from a wide territory in Central New York. Last fall the Temple elected Moses E. Lippitt of Cooperstown to the office of Illustrious Potentate. As a testimony to the head of the order, and to his home town, Shriners to the number of nearly 500 came to Cooperstown Wednesday afternoon of last week and staged an observance that included initiation ceremonies at the Masonic Temple in the afternoon, a colorful parade followed by a barbeque at the Lakefront in the evening with an entertainment program for the members at the Village Hall.

September 29, 1937

35 YEARS AGO
The Otsego County Sheriff’s Department has received three K-9 security dogs to provide better law enforcement procedures in the county. The dogs, originally trained in West Germany, will be specialized in drug search, bomb search, general security and tracking of suspects. The K-9 program is funded through $11,000 in donations from private and business organizations with the largest grant coming from the New York Central Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Edmeston.

September 30, 1987

20 YEARS AGO
The people of our sister city in Windsor, Nova Scotia, have developed a unique event to showcase their world-famous giant pumpkins. October 5th marks the 18th annual Windsor-West Hants Pumpkin Festival and Weigh-Off, to be followed two weeks later by the fourth annual pumpkin regatta on October 13. Windsor’s Howard Dill developed the Dill’s Atlantic Giant pumpkin seeds. The current world record pumpkin hails from Sammamish, WA, at 1,262 pounds.

September 27, 2002